Bountiful to Build a History Museum

 

This is the Main Street view of the new proposed Bountiful History Museum showing

the curved glass windows reflecting the “old” Willey Cabin into the “new” Museum.

 

It is one thing to read about our history in books. It is another to understand our history by seeing it, walking through it, experiencing it first hand. Our important structures, original documents, works of art and authentic artifacts inspire us as nothing else can. To help ensure that future generations will have an opportunity to experience our past and understand our identity as a community, the Bountiful Historical Preservation Foundation has been formed to help build Bountiful’s first public Museum of History.

 

The new proposed museum is to be built just south of the current Bountiful/Davis Art Center located on the City campus, next to the historic Willey Cabin.  The building is estimated to cost $1.5 million dollars with funds coming from fund raising from the Bountiful Historical Foundation of $750,000, and then with remaining money from a matching donation of $750,000 from the City Council.  However, the Foundation will be seeking close to $2 million dollars of funding to help in on going costs to operate the museum into future years in the way of family trusts, asset gifts and annuities.

 

The architect and designer for the new museum is local architect Tom Smith, of Smith Hyatt Architects, and will have approximately 9,000 to 10,000 square feet of main floor and basement facilities.  Tom Smith has been assisted by members of the Bountiful Historical Commission/Foundation including Lloyd Carr, Sandy Inman, Barbara Manfull, Joyce Benard, Elaine Holbrook, Robert McArthur, Randy Goodrich, Annette Nelson and Chairman, Dean Collinwood, assisted by former City Council member John Pitt, with coordination from City Council member Tom Tolman.

 

This new museum has been a dream of many of the descendants of the early pioneers of the Bountiful area for decades.  Enthusiasm for a museum came during the Centennial Celebration of the incorporation of Bountiful in 1992.  Motivated by then, City Councilman, Les Foy, and author of the book “The City Bountiful”, the Centennial Committee put the wheels in motion to find a suitable place to house the history of our wonderful community.  Since that time, the current Bountiful Historical Commission has continued the task of locating such a place, with the opening of a temporary museum three years ago.  The walls of this temporary home are bursting at the seams and it is now, after much searching, designs, and meetings, the time to build a new facility.    

 

The museum will include information on all eras of history, not just the pioneer era, and it will include displays on historical events that occurred in Bountiful and all the surrounding communities.

 

Dean Collinwood points out that, in addition to displays of historical artifacts, the building will also house an archive in which family diaries, journals, and other written documents will be preserved in a safe and controlled environment.  It is expected that the archive and its reading room will become a popular place for citizens to do family history research.  In addition, a multi-purpose meeting room will be available for community organizations like the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and others to use.  School groups will use the room for on-site lessons on the area's history.

 

 All citizens of Bountiful and the surrounding communities are invited to make donations.  Sizable donations may carry the possibility of having the donor or donor's family named on a room, a wall, or other place in the building.  All donations are tax-deductible because the Foundation managing the fund-raising is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization.  Donors should make checks payable to the "Bountiful Historical Preservation Foundation" or “BHPF” and send them to 845 South Main, Suite B5, Bountiful, Utah 84010.  Feel free the contact a member of the Foundation directly for any questions and answers or by visiting our current museum at 845 South Main, suite B5 (located in the southeast corner, downstairs of the Smith/Hyatt Building) or call 801-296-2060 and leave a message.

 

David McCullough, two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author, said it best on his previous visit to Davis County this past March:  “Understanding history is essential to understanding the present.”  “History helps in making contact with those who were there before in other days.  It’s a way to find them as fellow human beings, as necessary as the digging you do in libraries.”

 

History is everywhere.  In nearly 400 national parks and every hometown there is a visitor center or museum that tells the stories.  They cover everything from the remnants of ancient civilizations to the boyhood homes of U.S. Presidents to the stirring sagas of hard-fought wars to the reverberations of one woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus.  History is a part of who we were, who we are, and who we will be; this is why we are building this history museum for Bountiful.  Not just for now, but for future generations, of our children and our grandchildren and beyond.  A living legacy for Bountiful!